TCP Overview

31 January 2014

TCP/IP Protocol Stack

OSI Reference Model
7

Application

Presentation

Session

TCP/IP Conceptual Layers

Application

Transport

Transport

Network

Internet

Data Link

Physical

Network
Interface

Ethernet,
802.3, 802.5,
FDDI, and so
on.

31 January 2014

Transport Layer Overview

Application
Transport
Internet

Transmission Control
Protocol (TCP)
User Datagram
Protocol (UDP)

Network
Interface
Hardware

31 January 2014

TCP
Defined in RFC 793
Reliable

- Acknowledgments
- Guarantee of packet delivery
- Delayed Ack Piggybacking
- Reassembly of out of order data
- Discards duplicates caused by IP
- Provided end-to-end flow control
- finite buffer size
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TCP
Connection oriented

- Segments are dependent

- Maintain state information of segments
- Segments can take different routes
- Segments are delivered in order to the application
layer
Full Duplex

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TCP Segment Format

# Bits

16

16

32

Source
Port

Dest.
Port

Sequence
Number

32

Acknowledgement
HLEN
Number

16

16

16

0 or 32

Window

Checksum

Urgent
Pointer

Options

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Reserved

Code
Bits

Data...

Port Numbers

Application
Layer

Transport
Layer

F
T
P

T
E
L
N
E
T

S
M
T
P

D
N
S

T
F
T
P

S
N
M
P

21

23

25

53

69

161

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TCP

Port
Numbers

UDP

TCP Port Numbers

Source
Port

Dest.
Port

Telnet Z

Ephemeral Ports
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Host A

Host Z

SP

DP

1028

23

Dest. port = 23.

Send packet to my
Telnet
application.

TCP Handshake/Open Connection

Host A

Send SYN
(seq=100 ctl=SYN)

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Host B

SYN received

TCP Handshake/Open Connection

Host A

Send SYN
(seq=100 ctl=SYN)

SYN received

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Host B

SYN received

2
Send SYN
(seq=300 ack=101 ctl=syn,ack)

10

TCP Handshake/Open Connection

Host A

Send SYN
(seq=100 ctl=SYN)

SYN received

Host B

SYN received

2
Send SYN
(seq=300 ack=101 ctl=syn,ack)

Established
(seq=101 ack=301 ctl=ack)

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11

TCP Handshake/Open Connection

Host A

Send SYN
(seq=100 ctl=SYN)

SYN received

Established
(seq=101 ack=301 ctl=ack)

Data Segment
(seq=101 ack=301 ctl=ack
Data)

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Host B

SYN received

2
Send SYN
(seq=300 ack=101 ctl=syn,ack)

12

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

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Window size = 1

13

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1

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Window size = 1

14

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1
Send ACK 2

Receive ACK 2

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Window size = 1

15

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1
Send ACK 2

Receive ACK 2
Send 2

Receive 2

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Window size = 1

16

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1
Send ACK 2

Receive ACK 2
Send 2

Receive 2
Send ACK 3

Receive ACK 3

Window size = 1

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17

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1
Send ACK 2

Receive ACK 2
Send 2

Receive 2
Send ACK 3

Receive ACK 3
Send 3

Receive 3

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Window size = 1

18

TCP Simple Acknowledgment

Sender

Receiver

Send 1

Receive 1
Send ACK 2

Receive ACK 2
Send 2

Receive 2
Send ACK 3

Receive ACK 3
Send 3

Receive 3
Send ACK 4

Receive ACK 4

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Window size = 1

19

TCP Windowing
Sender

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Receiver

20

TCP Windowing
Sender

Window size = 3
Send 1

Receiver

Window size = 3
Send 2
Window size = 3
Send 3

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21

TCP Windowing
Sender

Window size = 3
Send 1

Receiver

Window size = 3
Send 2
Window size = 3
Send 3

ACK 1
Window size = 2
ACK 2
Window size = 2
ACK 3
Window size = 2

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22

TCP Windowing
Sender

Window size = 3
Send 1

Receiver

Window size = 3
Send 2
Window size = 3
Send 3

ACK 1
Window size = 2
ACK 2
Window size = 2

Window size = 3
Send 4

ACK 3
Window size = 2

Window size = 3
Send 5

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23

TCP Windowing
Sender

Window size = 3
Send 1

Receiver

Window size = 3
Send 2
Window size = 3
Send 3

ACK 1
Window size = 2
ACK 2
Window size = 2

Window size = 3
Send 4
Window size = 3
Send 5

ACK 3
Window size = 2

ACK 4
Window size = 2
ACK 5
Window size = 2

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24

TCP Sequence and Ack Numbers

Source
Port

Dest.
Port

Sequence
#

Acknowledgement
#

I just
sent #10.
Source Dest. Seq. Ack.
1028

23

10

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25

TCP Sequence and Ack Numbers

Source
Port

Dest.
Port

Sequence
#

Acknowledgement
#

I just
sent #10.

I just got #10,

now I need #11.

Source Dest. Seq. Ack.

1028

23

10

Source Dest. Seq. Ack.

23

31 January 2014

1028

26

11

TCP Sequence and Ack Numbers

Source
Port

Dest.
Port

Sequence
#

Acknowledgement
#

I just
sent #10.

I just got #10,

now I need #11.

Source Dest. Seq. Ack.

1028

23

10

Source Dest. Seq. Ack.

23

1028

Source Dest. Seq. Ack.

1028

23

11

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27

11

TCP Connection Closure

Host A

31 January 2014

Send FIN

Host B

FIN received

28

TCP Connection Closure

Host A

Send FIN

ACK received

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Host B

FIN received
Send ACK

29

TCP Connection Closure

Host A

Send FIN

ACK received
FIN received

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Host B

FIN received
Send ACK

Send FIN

30

TCP Connection Closure

Host A

Send FIN

ACK received
FIN received

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Send ACK

Host B

FIN received
Send ACK

Send FIN

ACK received

31

TCP Connection Closure

Since TCP is full-duplex, connection must be

shut down from both sides independently

- it takes 4 segments to close the connection
completely
Active close initiation of first FIN request
Passive close initiation of second FIN

request

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32

Connection closure sequence

Application closes the session
TCP sends FIN to the server
Server TCP sends ACK to client
Server TCP informs application
Server application closes the session
Server TCP sends FIN
Client TCP sends ACK to server

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33

TCP Connection Closure

Half-close is also possible

- Only one side discontinue transmission

- Most of the present applications do not use halfclose

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34

Half-Close
Host A

31 January 2014

Send FIN

Host B

FIN received

35

Half Close
Host A

Send FIN

ACK received

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Host B

FIN received
Send ACK

36

Half Close
Host A

Host B

Send FIN

ACK received

FIN received
Send ACK

Send Data
Segment

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37

Timeout during Connection Setup

When initiator does not receive SYN-ACK

- Resends SYN after some time

- First retry after 6 sec
- Second retry after 24 sec
- Stops retrying after 75 seconds (Unix system)
- These times are implementation dependent

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38

MSS
Maximum Segment Size

- Exchanged with the initial SYN packets as an

optional field
- MSS does not appear in other packets
- If MSS value is not received default value
assumed is 536 bytes
- 536+20IPhdr+20TCPHdr = 576byte IP datagram

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39

MSS
Larger the MSS, better it is for the protocol

efficiency, provided it is not fragmented

MSS may be at the most

= MTU 20 20 byte
- For Ethernet = 1500-20-20 = 1460
If destination is non-local, MSS normally

defaults to 536
MSS is configurable value

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40

MSS
When two sides announce different MSS,

they normally settle down to the lower value.

- This is not mandatory
- Avoids fragmentations
- Not necessarily eliminate fragmentations if
intermediate links have even lower MTU
- Use MTU discovery mechanism to avoid this

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41

Non-delivery of TCP Segments

Non delivery is indicated by non-receipt of

ACK at sender side

This may be caused by

- Loss of packet
Due to congestion
Due to error in header
Due to error in data

- Loss of ACK
- Delayed delivery by IP
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42

Non-delivery of TCP Segments

Non-receipt of ACK is decided by

- Retransmission timer
- Receipt of duplicate ack
TCP assumes that the non-delivery is

because of congestion
Reduces the window size when the packet is

declared as undelivered
- Not an efficient way if loss of packet is due to a
transmission error
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43

Types of Connection Closure

Orderly release graceful shutdown

- When closure initiated by applications

- No loss of data
- Using FIN segment
Abortive release

- Abrupt termination
- Using reset (RST)

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44

Variation in Connection Open and Close

Simultaneous Opening

- Both sides send SYN

- Both sides respond with SYN-ACK
Simultaneous Closure

- Both sides send FIN

- Both sides send ACK

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45

RST
Generated on receipt of an incorrect TCP

segment

- Packet does not belong to the referenced

connection, determined by
IP
Port number
Sequence number

Generated on receipt of connection request to

an nonexistent port
Generated by application when it aborts the
application
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46

RST
At sender side, any queued data is thrown

away
At the receiver side, APIs used should be

able to inform application about the abortive

release

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47

PSH
PUSH Flag
Indicates to the receiver to send the data to

the application without further delay

Used in the interactive applications or during

interactive operations
Also used when last portion of the data is

sent by sender stack

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48

Half-open Connections
One side abruptly terminates the session
May be caused by

- System crash
- Machine powered off without graceful shutdown
Server will not know the closure and will be in

wait state
Security risk

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49

Interactive Data Flow

Tinygrams
- Small data flow during interactive applications
- Example: Rlogin
Nagle Algorithm (RFC 896)
- TCP connection can have only one outstanding
small segment that is not yet acknowledged
- Small data is collected by TCP and sent together
when Ack is received for previous small segment
- Might cause problem when ASCII escape
character is involved (special function keys)

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50

Interactive Data Flow

Repacketisation

- Sending retransmission and next segment in the

same segment
TCP protocol spoofing

- Used when delay is high, bandwidth is sufficent

- Improves user experience and application
performance
- Used in VSATs

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51

Sliding Window
Start small slow start
Grow exponentially
Bound by upper limit of window size
Reduces window size when encounter

segment loss
Increases window size again

- Offered window size

- Usable window size
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52

Sliding Window
Slow Start

- Rate of transmission depends on rate of receipt of

acknowledgments
- A flow control imposed by sender based on its
assessment of congestion in the network

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53

Congestion Avoidance
Indication of loss of packet

- Timeout
- Duplicate ACK
On receiving duplicate ACK reduce usable

window size to half

If congestion is indicated by timeout, reduce

usable window size to one, initiate slow start

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54

Fast Retransmit
When three or more duplicate ACK received,

retransmit the un-ACKed packets without

waiting for timeout of retransmission timer

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55

Reading Assignment
Congestion Avoidance
Slow Start
Fast Retransmit
Fast Recovery

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56

Congestion Avoidance
Indication of loss of packet

- Timeout
- Duplicate ACK
Two variables

- cwnd (congestion window)

- ssthresh(slow start threshold)
On congestion, ssthresh = cwnd/2
If congestion is indicated by timeout, cwnd is

set to one, slow start

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57

Thank you!

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58